An F-22 Raptor from the Hawaii Air National Guard flies over Savannah on Feb. 20 during Sentry Savannah, a training operation conducted by the Georgia Air National Guard’s Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center.

More than 150 fighter jet pilots flew some 750 combat training flights over Coastal Georgia last month as the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center held its largest operation ever.

The Georgia Air National Guard installation at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport hosted nearly 1,000 troops for the month-long exercise dubbed Sentry Savannah that included active duty and National Guard units from Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Washington, D.C., Vermont and Hawaii.

The CRTC, one of four such training centers in the nation, is ideally located on the Georgia coast with access to areas where fighter pilots can participate in large-scale air-to-air training wars, known as dog-fights, and military installations where pilots can conduct air-to-ground bombing and strafing practice, said CRTC commander Air Force Col. Tom Grabowski.

By all accounts, the commander said, the operation was “extremely successful.”

“I’d say it was practically perfectly executed and all-in-all it went really well,” Grabowski said. “I think every unit had nothing but praise for the features we have here, the training opportunities and this awesome local Savannah community.

“Without exception everyone tells me they’ll be back here at some point in the future.”

While small units regularly come in and out of the CRTC for individualized training, Sentry Savannah was the first major operation at the installation since Grabowski took command in November.

The colonel turned to many of his sister units to ensure the operation ran smoothly.

“I’m still trying to get my feet wet in this position and learning some of the ropes,” said Grabowski, a longtime Air Force pilot who has flown E-8C JSTARS in both Iraq and Afghanistan. “So, we really relied on our neighbors and what we’re calling Team Savannah to keep this thing going, and they all did just an outstanding job in an exercise of this magnitude.”

Team Savannah, the colonel said, included the more than 50 CRTC staffers, air guardsmen with the Savannah-based 165th Airlift Wing, including its 165th Air Support Operations Squadron — whose joint tactical air controllers trained at Townsend Bombing Range throughout the month — and its 117th Air Control Squadron at Hunter Army Airfield, and the Savannah Airport Commission.

“We had zero safety incidents and essentially no problems through all of these sorties, and with that many moving pieces that’s a fact that really says a lot,” Grabowski said.

The training included active duty Air Force and Air Guard F-15, F-16s and F-22s as well as Marine Corps F/A-18s from nearby Marine Corps Air Station Savannah. Additionally, it included a variety of surveillance, tankers and cargo aircraft.

In all, the CRTC reported, 4,852 munitions were fired and 387 tons of cargo were moved during Sentry Savannah.

The mix of aircraft and pilots from different services, Grabowski said, is an experience pilots cannot get at other facilities.

It’s why Hawaii’s Air National Guard 154th Wing sent its F-22 Raptors more than 4,500 miles to train, said Maj. Luke Swanson, the wing’s maintenance officer.

“We simply can’t get this training at (our) home station,” he said.

Based on the success of the exercise, it will continue on an annual basis, said Maj. Gen. Jim Butterworth, adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard.

“This point should not be lost on anyone. The expertise of Team Savannah’s airmen, and the CRTC’s unique location, make it possible to train our air warriors effectively and efficiently, providing the best deal possible for the Air National Guard, the Air Force and our nation,” Butterworth said. “... This is the first, and we sincerely hope it’s the first of many of these types of very, very large ... combat exercises that are going to take place right here in Savannah.”